CPBL Postpones 2020 Opening Day to April 11

2020 CPBL Opening Day: April 11

The CPBL originally announced the 2020 Opening Day back in December 2019. However, due to the Olympics Qualifier and the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak concerns, the CPBL has pushed back the 2020 Opening Day on two occasions.

As always, to keep track of all the information, we will continue to update this blog post as the story develops. [Last Updated: March 23, 2020]

Updates: March 23, 2020

On March 23, the CPBL decided to go ahead with the April 11 Opening Day and the 2020 season in empty stadiums without fans.

As of March 23, there have been a total of 195 confirmed cases of the coronavirus with 28 recovered in Taiwan. Among the 195 confirmed cases, 81% are from overseas.

Updates: March 12, 2020

On March 12, the CPBL commissioner announced the 2020 Opening Day would be postponed to April 11 due to the Wuhan coronavirus fears. The league came to that decision after their meeting with the Ministry of Health earlier today.

“We are unlikely to delay the Opening Day again,” said the CPBL commissioner. “All 240 games will go on as planned with the Opening Day on April 11.”

Although the league confirmed the Opening Day, they will review the situation at the end of March to decide whether or not the games will be played without fans.

A few days ago, the Taiwan CDC warned the public that there could be a new wave of confirmed cases coming during the Qingming Festival (April 2-4). To prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the CDC has already cancelled several large religious gatherings around Taiwan.

Another major decision that came out of the press conference was the 2020 CPBL season might be changed to a single-season format. According to the commissioner, this depends on whether Taiwan will qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.

The CPBL will not add anymore Spring Training games leading up to the Opening Day. All remaining Spring Training games will now be playing at an empty venue. The same behind closed doors policy applies to the farm league games as well.

As of March 12, there have been a total of 49 confirmed cases of the coronavirus with 20 recovered in Taiwan.

Updates: March 11, 2020

On March 11, the CPBL commissioner told the media there is a possibility the league might postpone the 2020 Opening Day to mid-April due to the Wuhan coronavirus concerns.

There will be a meeting between the CPBL and the Ministry of Health tomorrow to decide whether or not to postpone the Opening Day.

Last week, the Taiwan CDC categorised a crowd over 1000 as a mass gathering with a high-risk of spreading the Wuhan coronavirus. Although the CDC did not outright cancel any events, they urged and recommended all event organisers to re-evaluate their plans.

As of March 11, there have been a total of 48 confirmed cases of the coronavirus with 17 recovered in Taiwan.

Updates: March 2, 2020

On March 2, the CPBL confirmed they are pushing back the 2020 Opening Day to March 28. The reasoning behind this is mainly due to the WBSC postponing the Olympics Qualifier to June.

With the new 2020 Opening Day set on March 28, instead of taking two weeks off during mid-season to accommodate the Olympics Qualifier, the 2020 season would now go on as usual between March 23 to April 7.

As of March 3, there have been a total of 41 confirmed cases with 12 recovered in Taiwan. In comparison with other countries within the region, Taiwan is still relatively safe from the coronavirus.

The Taiwanese government currently has a travel ban on China, and with China being one of the teams competing in the Olympics qualifying tournament, this could be the reason behind the WBSC’s decision to postponed the event.

Updates: February 27, 2020

On February 27, the CPBL announced the 2020 Opening Day is likely to be pushed back to March 28. It all depends on the WBSC’s decision whether the Olympics Qualifier will go ahead as the plan or not. The WBSC set to discuss the matter on March 4 in Switzerland.

“If the WBSC decide to cancel or delay the Olympics Qualifier, then the 2020 CPBL Opening Day will be on March 28,” said the CPBL commissioner.

We will continue to update this blog post as the story develop. At this stage, there are two possible dates for the 2020 CPBL Opening Day.

Original Article on December 23, 2019

After the CPBL board meeting on December 23, the league decided the 2020 Opening Day will be on March 14. The 2019 Taiwan Series Champion, the Rakuten Monkeys (formally known as Lamigo Monkeys) will take on the Chinatrust Brothers at Taoyuan Stadium.

CPBL All-Star game itself is quite meaningless, it is more like a fan service event and a platform for players to let loose a little. As for Dai Pei-Feng, I believe this is because the ASG format was Team Taiwan vs CPBL, all the good catchers went to the other team.

Novel coronavirus is going to kill attendance across the world of baseball. KBO attendance was already hurting before this, and it’s hard to see anyone going to games with a major outbreak there now. NPB has had steady, modest attendance gains the last few or more years, and going to tank in 2020. The outbreak in the U.S. is just starting and, for a whole number of reasons, it’s likely to get pretty bad. The Mariners are going to get crushed, because the biggest outbreak so far is in the Seattle area.

My guess is that they will all try to play games in near empty stadiums and hope they can make some money on TV revenues. People staying at home to avoid contagion will certainly need baseball on TV to keep them occupied.

Oh for sure, CPBL attendance is going to take a massive hit this season. Taiwan’s CDC are thinking to step in and limiting the number of fans can attend the game. The CPBL they are preparing for the worst, as in playing in an empty stadium. I guess we will find out soon in the next few days.

It is probably for the best in my opinion, better to be safe then sorry. Baseball will still to be there at the end of the day. And who knows, maybe this whole playing the games with any fans can lead to other creative ways for teams to generate revenues.

Surprising that no MLB team has signed Wang Wei-Chung. He’s still only 28 this year, and while he has not been effective at the major league level, he’s reached the majors in several seasons, so he’s obviously a useful AAA depth piece.

It would be exciting to see Wang pitch in the CPBL this year IF any championship baseball is played anywhere in 2020.

Yeah, very weird that there’s nothing so far. I guess his agency Boras Corporation probably looking for a MLB contact instead of a minor league deal? There was rumour a while ago that NPB was interested.

Wang is currently training with the Rakuten Monkeys. Recently pitched against KBO’s Kiwoom Heroes in a practice game too. Velocity is still there about 151kph.

I think we might see Wang Wei-Chung playing in the CPBL minor league as a “development player”. The CPBL secretary general is thinking implement a new policy to let Taiwanese (MLB, MiLB, NPB) free agents to continue to play baseball while waiting for new contract. Or at least get a taste of CPBL first without entering the draft.

I think if Wang still can not get a contract in the MLB system by May or June, maybe we will see him entering the CPBL draft. If that’s the case, he is probably going to be the first overall draft pick. Wei Chuan Dragons will have a young MLB qualification hard-throwing left-handed starting pitcher that does not take up a foreign player slot. The key here is whether he can be a starting pitcher, if he can, then he might even break the “CPBL rookie” contract record set by former Dodgers’ Chen Chin-Feng at $334,000 USD a year.

Or he could join NPB at mid season if games are played this year. You would think it might be possible to play some number of games in front of limited widely spaced fans and broadcast on tv and radio. People are going to want sports while they stuck at home.